6 ms·

In the US. In the UK 2200W induction plates are readily available with a standard plug for ~£40, or if you spend a little more you can go to 3kW - [0] which is

by maccard 11mo ago

In the US. In the UK 2200W induction plates are readily available with a standard plug for ~£40, or if you spend a little more you can go to 3kW - [0] which is about the limit of most domestic circuits but is hotter than most gas hobs. If you _really_ want more than that you can go a little mental and use one with an integrated battery which can push out 10 kW [1] [0] https://www.nisbets.co.uk/nisbets-essentials-single-zone-induction-hob/jb376?vatToggle=incvat https://www.nisbets.co.uk/nisbets-essentials-single-zone-ind... [1] https://www.impulselabs.com/ https://www.impulselabs.com/

jchw 11mo ago
This begs the question, and I've genuinely thought this before, of why we don't just strap a battery to a kettle and end this silly debate. If it takes 5 minutes to boil a cup of water in a 1000 watt kettle, that's somewhere around 80Wh... I guess it would be kind of expensive, but couldn't you make a pretty fast kettle with some number of high discharge battery cells? (Well honestly, I guess the real answer is outside of Internet debates most people probably just don't consider 5 minutes to boil a cup of water to be a problem.)
- Nextgrid 11mo ago
  It would turn an inert device that costs a couple bucks to manufacture and has affectively no usage limit into a bomb that costs a couple hundred bucks (due to lack of economy of scale) and is limited by the battery's rated number of cycles. The battery's proximity to the heat source wouldn't help.
  - jchw 11mo ago
    If people are willing to rewire their homes for kettles, I guess a couple hundred bucks isn't that bad. > limited by the battery's rated number of cycles Obviously the battery should be replaceable. (It should be in most electronics, really...) > The battery's proximity to the heat source wouldn't help. That doesn't seem like a particularly tricky problem to me. The standard kettle already tries as hard as possible to insulate the heat. If you were really worried it'd be possible to put the battery on a separate power brick instead probably. ... And I guess I could've solved my own problem by googling it. There are tons of battery kettles on the market, including a 1500W one by Cuisinart and a 2200W (apparently?) unit by Makita. The latter is predictably expensive but the Cuisinart is available for around $100 where I live, which is definitely pricey but seems plausible.
    - maccard 11mo ago
      > Obviously the battery should be replaceable. (It should be in most electronics, really...) This is super wasteful when we can just hook up a heating element to an insulated tank and keep it hot like Quooker [0] does. Assuming the 3L tank, that would mean probably 20 minutes to heat the tank if it's entirely emptied for the US, but that's how long it would take to boil that water with an electric kettle _anyway_. If you want 5l of water for cooking, you cna use your 3L tank and fill it up with the "slightly lukewarm water that keeps coming through the tap", and then put it on the hob _anyway_. In the best case you're boiling 2L of water instead of 5 anyway. > That doesn't seem like a particularly tricky problem to me. The standard kettle already tries as hard as possible to insulate the heat. If you were really worried it'd be possible to put the battery on a separate power brick instead probably. Dunno what kettle you're using but no kettle I've ever used has been insulated. They're either plastic, or stainless steel. They do usually have a lid, which helps. [0] https://www.quooker.co.uk/tanks https://www.quooker.co.uk/tanks
      - jchw 11mo ago
        It doesn't have to be insulated like an insulated water bottle or anything, plastic is good enough for this. I have a cheap 120V kettle, nothing special, probably mostly plastic but with some superficial bits of stainless steel. After bringing a cup of water to a boil you can safely touch the base and anywhere on the kettle itself; there's not even an obvious sign of warmth anywhere except for the lid. If you don't believe me, I do have a thermal camera, but I assume this can be reproduced with most kettles, since it's not like mine is anything special. Also: a hot water tank is just another type of battery. If it's really well insulated, it might work pretty good, but the self-discharge rate is probably still a lot higher than a lithium ion battery. If you aren't using boiling water every day this seems like it would be very wasteful. I don't see anything terribly wasteful about the concept of putting batteries in a few more things. They're very recyclable, and already extremely abundant. It's not necessary, but neither is pushing several kW through a kettle just to get water to boil a bit faster. So really, that might be worth interrogating first...
        11mo ago
- kondro 11mo ago
  People that care about the time it takes to boil water just have an instant hot water boiler on (or under) their bench.
- drooby 11mo ago
  Impulse Labs is doing exactly this.. I believe there master plan foresees a future where batteries are more integrated with a house for decentralized grid storage. But the additional consumer advantage is better hardware - i.e cooking time.
- martythemaniak 11mo ago
  It's probably just the price of batteries. You can definitely do this and you'd need like 8 18650 batteries, which today you can get on amazon for $30 USD. A decade ago it might have cost $200-$300. Given that premium kettles already sell for about $100, there's definitely room for an ultra premium kettle that boils water laughably fast for $150.
- maccard 11mo ago
  That seems a terrible waste of batteries to me. A boiling water tap seems like a better idea to me - electric heater with a pressurised insulated vessel that just dispenses from your tap.
  - juliangmp 11mo ago
    I've seen those around, even with an integrated carbonator to get sparkling water right from the tap. They're neat but also ridiculously expensive
    - maccard 11mo ago
      https://www.quooker.co.uk/ https://www.quooker.co.uk/ - these are the only "boiling water" ones (as in 100 degrees C), but if you're ok with 98C, then you can get https://www.screwfix.com/p/swirl-danube-3-in-1-instant-boiling-water-tap-matt-black/122ft#product_additional_details_container https://www.screwfix.com/p/swirl-danube-3-in-1-instant-boili... instead for 25% of the price.

by maccard 11mo ago

jchw 11mo ago

This begs the question, and I've genuinely thought this before, of why we don't just strap a battery to a kettle and end this silly debate. If it takes 5 minutes to boil a cup of water in a 1000 watt kettle, that's somewhere around 80Wh... I guess it would be kind of expensive, but couldn't you make a pretty fast kettle with some number of high discharge battery cells? (Well honestly, I guess the real answer is outside of Internet debates most people probably just don't consider 5 minutes to boil a cup of water to be a problem.)

Nextgrid 11mo ago
It would turn an inert device that costs a couple bucks to manufacture and has affectively no usage limit into a bomb that costs a couple hundred bucks (due to lack of economy of scale) and is limited by the battery's rated number of cycles. The battery's proximity to the heat source wouldn't help.
- jchw 11mo ago
  If people are willing to rewire their homes for kettles, I guess a couple hundred bucks isn't that bad. > limited by the battery's rated number of cycles Obviously the battery should be replaceable. (It should be in most electronics, really...) > The battery's proximity to the heat source wouldn't help. That doesn't seem like a particularly tricky problem to me. The standard kettle already tries as hard as possible to insulate the heat. If you were really worried it'd be possible to put the battery on a separate power brick instead probably. ... And I guess I could've solved my own problem by googling it. There are tons of battery kettles on the market, including a 1500W one by Cuisinart and a 2200W (apparently?) unit by Makita. The latter is predictably expensive but the Cuisinart is available for around $100 where I live, which is definitely pricey but seems plausible.
  - maccard 11mo ago
    > Obviously the battery should be replaceable. (It should be in most electronics, really...) This is super wasteful when we can just hook up a heating element to an insulated tank and keep it hot like Quooker [0] does. Assuming the 3L tank, that would mean probably 20 minutes to heat the tank if it's entirely emptied for the US, but that's how long it would take to boil that water with an electric kettle _anyway_. If you want 5l of water for cooking, you cna use your 3L tank and fill it up with the "slightly lukewarm water that keeps coming through the tap", and then put it on the hob _anyway_. In the best case you're boiling 2L of water instead of 5 anyway. > That doesn't seem like a particularly tricky problem to me. The standard kettle already tries as hard as possible to insulate the heat. If you were really worried it'd be possible to put the battery on a separate power brick instead probably. Dunno what kettle you're using but no kettle I've ever used has been insulated. They're either plastic, or stainless steel. They do usually have a lid, which helps. [0] https://www.quooker.co.uk/tanks https://www.quooker.co.uk/tanks
    - jchw 11mo ago
      It doesn't have to be insulated like an insulated water bottle or anything, plastic is good enough for this. I have a cheap 120V kettle, nothing special, probably mostly plastic but with some superficial bits of stainless steel. After bringing a cup of water to a boil you can safely touch the base and anywhere on the kettle itself; there's not even an obvious sign of warmth anywhere except for the lid. If you don't believe me, I do have a thermal camera, but I assume this can be reproduced with most kettles, since it's not like mine is anything special. Also: a hot water tank is just another type of battery. If it's really well insulated, it might work pretty good, but the self-discharge rate is probably still a lot higher than a lithium ion battery. If you aren't using boiling water every day this seems like it would be very wasteful. I don't see anything terribly wasteful about the concept of putting batteries in a few more things. They're very recyclable, and already extremely abundant. It's not necessary, but neither is pushing several kW through a kettle just to get water to boil a bit faster. So really, that might be worth interrogating first...
      - 11mo ago
kondro 11mo ago
People that care about the time it takes to boil water just have an instant hot water boiler on (or under) their bench.
drooby 11mo ago
Impulse Labs is doing exactly this.. I believe there master plan foresees a future where batteries are more integrated with a house for decentralized grid storage. But the additional consumer advantage is better hardware - i.e cooking time.
martythemaniak 11mo ago
It's probably just the price of batteries. You can definitely do this and you'd need like 8 18650 batteries, which today you can get on amazon for $30 USD. A decade ago it might have cost $200-$300. Given that premium kettles already sell for about $100, there's definitely room for an ultra premium kettle that boils water laughably fast for $150.
maccard 11mo ago
That seems a terrible waste of batteries to me. A boiling water tap seems like a better idea to me - electric heater with a pressurised insulated vessel that just dispenses from your tap.
- juliangmp 11mo ago
  I've seen those around, even with an integrated carbonator to get sparkling water right from the tap. They're neat but also ridiculously expensive
  - maccard 11mo ago
    https://www.quooker.co.uk/ https://www.quooker.co.uk/ - these are the only "boiling water" ones (as in 100 degrees C), but if you're ok with 98C, then you can get https://www.screwfix.com/p/swirl-danube-3-in-1-instant-boiling-water-tap-matt-black/122ft#product_additional_details_container https://www.screwfix.com/p/swirl-danube-3-in-1-instant-boili... instead for 25% of the price.